This is the story of Dorothy Draper. To understand her life, her accomplishments,and her story as a whole, I will have to take you through it from the very beginnig. For this I will need your immagination, your thinking cap, and your appreciation of hard work and dedication.
Alright, its november, the 22nd to be exact. The year is 1889 and all is well in the Tuxedo Park section of New York State. The weather is brisk and the streets are filled with people trying to get home from their jobs and miscellaneous errands of the day. The Tuckerman family is cozied up in their swank appartment when they hear a noise. A kind of noise that makes you think the house is burning down or the cat got caught in the dryer again. Luckily for the cat, the noise was not such of horrid disaster but rather a call for help. After carrying a fetus around for nine whole months, mrs. Tuckerman is about to give birth to her baby. After many exausting hours of child labor the Tuckerman family welcomes a little baby girl by the name of Dorothy Tuckerman into the world. From an early age Dorothy was exposed to only the finest of things ranging from people to travel to furniture. Even from a young age she was known for being bold . With such style,wealth,and a powerful aristocratic family behind her she would soon put her modern ideas to work. It was shocking for most to find out that for such a smart woman she had no formal schooling. But when your a decendent of someone who signed the Declaration of Independence (Oliver Wolcott) who needs school? She learned form experiences and the world arround her. She always said "if it looks right, it is right". Things like extensive travel to Europe with her family and and the pleasent surroundings of where she grew up were the main sorces of her inspiration.
While many things in her life could qualify her as being a high society snob, this is not so. She always had a strong feeling of pride and would have much rather work hard for her accomplishments than have them handded to her. Besides working hard for what you want she believed in two things, Passion and good taste. Another person who believed in this was Doctor George Draper. Doctor Draper was a friend of the family and saw her frequently. She fell in love with his personality and good taste and the two married in the year of 1912. Doctor Draper was the personal doctor for President Franklin D. Roosevelt after he was diagnosed with Polio. And as it turns out Eleanor and Dorothy grew up together and were close friends. Once her friends discoverd her talent they all wanted her to decorate their houses. Soon after this, many architects wanted to hire her. The company she ended up working for was Douglas Elliman. Her first real job was re-doing the Hotel Carlyle, and this ws just the begining. Over the years she worked on places such as New York's Hampshire House, World's Fair Terrace Club, and Maison Coty; Chicago's Drake Hotel's Camelia House, Washington's Mayflower Hotel; and Hollywood's Arrowhead Springs Hotel; West Virginia's Greenbrier. She also designed the interiors of famous hotels like the Palácio Quintandinha in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1944. Once finished the places she worked on were said to have been "Draperized". Because of the her many accomplishments she was one of the few women to really progress into the male dominated construction industry. Even so, her style was far to modern for most people. Both men and women were shockeed by her work and considered it to be gaudy. Like most success it comes with sacrifice. Always working, Dorothy was rarely home. This had a big effect on her family, Doctor Draper and their three kids grew weary of rarely seeing her and in the year of 1930 the two were divorced.
She lived out the rest of her day decorating fancy buildings and working for tons of celebrity clients.She was an inovator untill the end. She had built an empire and inspired many. On March 11, of 1969 Dorothy Draper past away of natural causes. She left behind a legacy that is still carried out by her reletives and close friends. She is gone but not forgotten and will inspire young interior decorator/ designers for years to come.
Dorothy Draper
1889~1969
This is the story of Dorothy Draper. To understand her life, her accomplishments,and her story as a whole, I will have to take you through it from the very beginnig. For this I will need your immagination, your thinking cap, and your appreciation of hard work and dedication.
Alright, its november, the 22nd to be exact. The year is 1889 and all is well in the Tuxedo Park section of New York State. The weather is brisk and the streets are filled with people trying to get home from their jobs and miscellaneous errands of the day. The Tuckerman family is cozied up in their swank appartment when they hear a noise. A kind of noise that makes you think the house is burning down or the cat got caught in the dryer again. Luckily for the cat, the noise was not such of horrid disaster but rather a call for help. After carrying a fetus around for nine whole months, mrs. Tuckerman is about to give birth to her baby. After many exausting hours of child labor the Tuckerman family welcomes a little baby girl by the name of Dorothy Tuckerman into the world. From an early age Dorothy was exposed to only the finest of things ranging from people to travel to furniture. Even from a young age she was known for being bold . With such style,wealth,and a powerful aristocratic family behind her she would soon put her modern ideas to work. It was shocking for most to find out that for such a smart woman she had no formal schooling. But when your a decendent of someone who signed the Declaration of Independence (Oliver Wolcott) who needs school? She learned form experiences and the world arround her. She always said "if it looks right, it is right". Things like extensive travel to Europe with her family and and the pleasent surroundings of where she grew up were the main sorces of her inspiration.
While many things in her life could qualify her as being a high society snob, this is not so. She always had a strong feeling of pride and would have much rather work hard for her accomplishments than have them handded to her. Besides working hard for what you want she believed in two things, Passion and good taste. Another person who believed in this was Doctor George Draper. Doctor Draper was a friend of the family and saw her frequently. She fell in love with his personality and good taste and the two married in the year of 1912. Doctor Draper was the personal doctor for President Franklin D. Roosevelt after he was diagnosed with Polio. And as it turns out Eleanor and Dorothy grew up together and were close friends. Once her friends discoverd her talent they all wanted her to decorate their houses. Soon after this, many architects wanted to hire her. The company she ended up working for was Douglas Elliman. Her first real job was re-doing the Hotel Carlyle, and this ws just the begining. Over the years she worked on places such as New York's Hampshire House, World's Fair Terrace Club, and Maison Coty; Chicago's Drake Hotel's Camelia House, Washington's Mayflower Hotel; and Hollywood's Arrowhead Springs Hotel; West Virginia's Greenbrier. She also designed the interiors of famous hotels like the Palácio Quintandinha in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1944. Once finished the places she worked on were said to have been "Draperized". Because of the her many accomplishments she was one of the few women to really progress into the male dominated construction industry. Even so, her style was far to modern for most people. Both men and women were shockeed by her work and considered it to be gaudy. Like most success it comes with sacrifice. Always working, Dorothy was rarely home. This had a big effect on her family, Doctor Draper and their three kids grew weary of rarely seeing her and in the year of 1930 the two were divorced.
She lived out the rest of her day decorating fancy buildings and working for tons of celebrity clients.She was an inovator untill the end. She had built an empire and inspired many. On March 11, of 1969 Dorothy Draper past away of natural causes. She left behind a legacy that is still carried out by her reletives and close friends. She is gone but not forgotten and will inspire young interior decorator/ designers for years to come.